I offer traditional acupuncture in Kingston-upon-Thames. I qualified with a BSc (Hons) degree and licence to practise (LicAc) in 5-Element Acupuncture from the internationally-renowned College of Integrated Chinese Medicine, located in Reading and affiliated to Kingston University, after 3.5 years training with some of the world’s leading acupuncture experts, including John Hicks, Angela Hicks, and Peter Mole. I practise an integrated style of acupuncture encompassing both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Five Element Acupuncture and Chinese Medical Massage (Tui Na) (LicTn). This allows me to focus on every level of my patient (mind, body and spirit). As well as using these techniques, I am also experienced in the use of moxibustion, cupping therapy and guasha.

I am a member of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC), the UK’s largest professional/regulatory body for the practice of traditional acupuncture. Members adhere to strict guidelines and code of ethics including the Council’s Code of Safe Practice and Code of Professional Conduct. I carry full Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance and am fully licenced with the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC membership number 960307) to carry out the practice of acupuncture.

As well as my own Practice, I also treat patients of Claremont NHS Medical Centre, Surbiton one day a week and also regularly volunteer at The Fountain Centre, Royal Surrey General, Guildford.

How I came to practise acupuncture

I came to acupuncture through the advice of a friend. Like many, I had no real knowledge or experience of acupuncture except through how it was sometimes portrayed in cartoons! At the time I was at a really low ebb and almost unable to get out of bed due to a late diagnosis of double pneumonia. I was prescribed strong antibiotics which unfortunately caused an adverse reaction, and an ensuing ambulance ride to hospital, where I spent 4 days as the effects of the drugs slowly wore off. Back at home I made some recovery however I just couldn't seem to shift a lingering cough and heaviness in my chest.

My partner had booked a holiday away for 2 weeks at sea and there was no way I was up to that! This is when my friend suggested “Why not go for acupuncture? We use it all the time!” On walking into the acupuncture practice I was intrigued by the herbal smell and charts on the walls – I’d stepped into a parallel universe! The practitioner took my pulses (in Chinese medicine you have more than one) and I was asked to lie face down on a couch while he painlessly inserted needles in my back. His words are etched into my memory -“You will stop coughing in 24 hours. Go on holiday but be sure to return for follow-up treatments when you get back”. Sure enough, almost within the hour, I was able again to take deep breaths and the coughing fits subsided. I did go on holiday feeling lighter with renewed energy as a consequence and my health continued to improve.

Again a couple of years later while I was living in the U.S. I turned to acupuncture as a first port of call for a bad back and bursitis and once again was reassured (and fascinated!) by the positive effects of treatment. Once back in the U.K. I decided to change occupation and turn my fascination for reading books about acupuncture into a career in it.

It is a pleasure for me to impart all the wonderful knowledge gained over the years in treating people at not just a physical level but also at an emotional level and to ultimately help them gain equilibrium in their lives.